


Wish on the Night

by Flavy



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Male Slash, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 06:29:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16827028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flavy/pseuds/Flavy
Summary: Slow-build angsty romance between Richie and Eddie, set in their final year of high school, from Eddie's POV. Eddie finds himself more and more isolated from his friends as he discovers that growing pains are real. And when mysterious letters start to arrive to his locker, he struggles not to lose himself entirely in his identity crisis and efforts to fit in. Angst and romance ensue.





	Wish on the Night

**Author's Note:**

> I am planning for a long fic, I hope readers will enjoy enough to support my writing. I will update 2-3 times a week. Thank you and happy reading!

Chapter 1

_“Eddie… Eddie, open your eyes.”_

_Eddie’s eyes opened slowly at the strange call and he warily inspected his surroundings. Everything was dark, so dark, it was hard to see who was calling his name. He turned around, but all he could see was grey shadows that seemed to shift restlessly from side to side, like blades of grass waving in the wind. It was cold. He felt so alone in this strange, unknown place. What was he doing here? And who called him here?_

_Getting an uneasy feeling, Eddie reached into his pocket to locate his aspirator. His breath quickened as he realized he didn’t have it with him. His aspirator was his security blanket at times like these—without it, his anxiety made him as vulnerable as an injured animal. He tried to speak and call out to whoever was out there, but his lungs refused to make any sound. His mouth felt numb… as though he hadn’t used it for a very long time and had forgotten how._

_As though just noticing his presence there, the shadows moved in on him. It didn’t feel right. Eddie took a step back cautiously, but that proved to be a mistake. Stumbling upon something hard, he fell over backwards and landed into water. He didn’t know how, but he instantly knew what it was. Grey water. Panicking, he pulled himself up to his feet and started scrubbing at his arms madly, trying to get as much off of him as possible before it started contaminating his flesh._

_It was too late._

_The shadows kept closing in on him._

_Suddenly, there was an ominous feeling in his chest that he was called here-- to this horrible place-- exactly for this reason. He was summoned here to rot and die. And he was going to die alone._

_Feeling sick to his stomach, Eddie opened his mouth and screamed. He forced his lungs to expel air over and over again to relieve the agony he was experiencing, but the dark veil of the world around him remained as silent as death itself._

_He glanced at his hands and froze in shock. His body trembled violently with the sheer terror of what he saw there. He scraped and scraped at them with his nails in a mad panic until the skin looked angry and raw, reddening and swelling under the onslaught. It was no use. He could feel it spreading, sending tendrils of dead tissue up his veins that liquefied into grey pools under his skin. Feeling helpless to stop its spread, Eddie held out his arms as far as they went, as though it would somehow separate them from the rest of his body._

_The fear he felt was agony. He had never felt so scared in his life. It was scorching him alive. He was trembling from head to toe, knowing deep inside that he was powerless to stop what was happening to him, and always had been. He wasn’t like the others—he was weak. He squeezed his eyes shut, blocking out the image of his flesh bubbling up into crater-like sores, popping and oozing greyed-out blood uncontrollably. He stood frozen, unable to do anything but feel himself rot from the inside out. Hot tears stung his eyes. He felt the shadows closing in still, bringing him closer towards the inevitable end. Somewhere in the near distance, that same beckoning voice cackled madly before being drowned out by wailing sirens. Eddie felt the skin on his arms melt away, exposing rotten bone matter. His body crumpled and he felt himself collapsing until his face hit the grey water and he was drowning in it, he was choking on its filth…_

_I am going to die. I am going to die._

_His stomach lurched and he recoiled violently—_

— and bolted upright in his bed, his eyes open wide and his breath coming in short, wheezing spurts. It took him only a short moment to realize he was having a nightmare before he shot his hands up into the soft light streaming through the window and stared at them breathlessly. He knew he was acting against reason, but he didn’t care. He had to make sure that it wasn’t real. Jumping out of bed, he checked every inch of his body for any signs of decomposition with panicked, jerky movements, again and again, until he finally felt assured that all of his skin was fully intact. His wheezing slowed down, but only marginally so.

Eddie’s eyes darted to his nightstand with uncertainty, where he usually kept his aspirator overnight. He knew his breathing would probably improve on its own within minutes, but he still craved it – that familiar reassurance of the childhood gimmick that had the ability to fool his brain into believing that everything was okay. Eddie still carried it around with him wherever he went, although he found himself using it less and less over the years, not wishing to rely on a piece of plastic to solve his problems for him. Besides, he knew well enough by now what a ‘placebo’ was and how it really worked.

It was just some times (like right now) when he honestly couldn’t be bothered to care about how it worked as long as it _worked_. It helped take the edge off his anxiety, which at its worst felt like a systematic collapse of his vital organs. It was madly ironic that it wasn’t an actual drug, yet it mimicked its effect entirely. Eddie was addicted to it, and he knew it. It was a psychological addiction, acquired over many years of use and enforcement from mother dear. It only made sense that it was taking just as many years to wean himself off of it. 

He took a couple of quick shots of it and slipped back under his blankets, closing his eyes and waiting for his body to calm down. 

“I’m okay,” he murmured to himself quietly like a mantra, until he was completely focused on this one thought. This kind of self-talk (his shrink’s only useful contribution from last year’s sessions) wasn’t always effective, but it reminded Eddie that self-suggestion was a powerful thing and that he _could_ be okay as long as he was able to talk himself into it. 

He licked his lips, his throat feeling dry and sticky. He wanted a drink of water so badly, but couldn’t get himself to get up and fetch it. The alarm clock told him it was only 6 am, which was far too early to be getting up to get ready for school. Feeling quite exhausted still, Eddie groaned internally at the idea that he was going to have to drag on through his school day feeling like shit again. He was going to freak out all day and act like a PMSing bitch to everyone who dared address him. At the very least, he could always count on his friends to be considerate enough to ignore and forgive, as per usual. The only exception to the rule was Richie (and wasn’t he always?), who absolutely loved picking Eddie apart whenever he was mimicking a caged bitch in heat just so he could get a good laugh out of it. 

Eddie couldn’t remember how many times he had promised himself that, one day very soon, he was going to make Richie’s Walkman disappear and then enjoy every moment of watching Richie plead and whine to have it returned to him until Eddie felt generous enough to oblige. Richie lived and breathed his music player, and would certainly agree to do anything, _anything at all_ , only to have it returned in good operating condition. As Eddie lost himself in thinking up all the ways he would make Richie regret being a jerk to him, he fell into a light, dreamless sleep.

The next time he woke up was to the sound of his mother knocking on his door, asking why he wasn’t getting up for school and if he was feeling sick. 

_Shit_ , he cursed mentally as he dragged himself out of bed. And now he was going to be late. _Richie is starting to rub off on me_ , he thought moodily. 

His alarm had been clearly snoozed several times to the point where it had given up on waking him up (which he had no recollection of doing, of course), and the time was now 8 am. That gave him 15 minutes to get a shower, brush his teeth, get dressed, comb his hair, and have breakfast. Perfect.

The knocking ceased as the door opened and his mother’s round, chubby face appeared around the door way. She eyed him worriedly with a furrowed brow. “Eddie-bear, are you feeling sick? I can take you to the hospital if you’re unwell.” 

Eddie shook his head, feeling annoyed. His mother still treated him like a 5-year-old that couldn’t take care of himself. “Mom, if I needed to go to the hospital, I’d go there myself. And I’m fine, I just overslept. I’m up now, so you can go back downstairs.” 

He didn’t like taking a dismissive tone with her, but he really wasn’t feeling up to her nonsense that morning. He rushed to get himself into the shower, effectively ending the conversation. He heard his mother’s heavy footsteps retreating downstairs and sighed in relief. At least she didn’t challenge him this time. 

After a refreshing shower, Eddie slipped on a pair of jeans and button-up shirt, shoved his textbooks and notebooks into his backpack, and took off down the stairs into the foyer of his house, where he hurriedly started lacing up his sneakers. The tempting scent of blueberry waffles drifted from the kitchen, but he knew he didn’t have more time to spare. He glanced at the watch up on the wall and groaned when he saw it was already 8:20. Richie usually drove up to his house to pick him up around 8:15, and on most days, they actually managed to make it to the school parking lot before the bell rang. On other days, Richie got an earful from Eddie about how getting into the habit of being late for school pretty much guaranteed a shitty outlook for any future plans in life, which didn’t seem to bother Richie in the least. Richie himself was never on time for his first class because he had a bad habit of starting his day with a smoke behind the school dumpsters. Eddie had gotten very good at pretending not to care, but it secretly infuriated him that Richie cared so little about his future.

“I guess today we’re going to be late, and for once it’s going to be my fault,” he grumbled to himself under his breath, too distracted to notice the towering presence right behind him that was fixating on his every move.

“We?” his mother said sternly, a hidden threat in her tone. “Who is ‘we’? You’re not talking about that awful Tozier boy, are you, dear? Because you told me you stopped being friends with him last year. I don’t want to repeat myself, but I don’t want you to be around him anymore. I trust you to make the right decisions for yourself, Eddie.”

Eddie didn’t react, but still felt his teeth grit slightly. This wasn’t the first time he was having this conversation with his mother, and he really hated listening to her rants about what he should and shouldn’t be doing. He had been keeping his rides with Richie a secret from her all year for this same reason. 

It was somewhere around his 16th birthday that she had actively taken to slandering Richie and his family in every way imaginable while begging Eddie to stop being friends with ‘his sort’. In her humble opinion, Richie Tozier was ‘a wretched boy born of a white trash whore that didn’t even have the decency to attend church on Sundays because she was too busy chugging down on whisky bottles and screwing behind bars’, and she didn’t care to hear anything different no matter how hard Eddie tried to speak in Richie’s defense. That was why Eddie had stopped trying a long time ago, especially since he had realized at just about the same time that lying to her was so much easier than trying to convince her of something she didn’t agree with. So he lied, despite the fact that it bothered him to do so.

“You misheard me. You know I walk to school alone,” he replied briskly and got up to go. He was already late and Richie was waiting. He didn’t have time for this. “I’m going now, see you after school.”

His mother’s features softened, then schooled into concern. “But Eddie-bear, you didn’t have breakfast yet! You know you won’t learn a thing on an empty stomach.”

“I know that, Mom,” Eddie replied, feeling slightly annoyed. “I’m just not that hungry and I’m running late.”

“Eddie, you know that skipping meals is not good for your health. You will get sick and you will lose weight again. You’re already thin as a leaf.”

He knew and he was quite happy to keep it that way. “I’ll have a snack at school.”

“A snack is not a meal, Eddie. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I made your favourite blueberry waffles just for you. You can be a little late, I can write a note to your teacher.”

Eddie gave her a pointed look. “Mom, I’m in the 12th Grade. I don’t need a note from my mother to come in late. Besides, I’m barely ever late.”

His mother huffed. “Well if you’re ever late, it’s only because you refuse let me drive you to school, and you know how I feel about you walking in all sorts of weather. You’ve been getting sick more often, don’t think I didn’t notice!”

 _Of course you noticed, you keep a diary about every itch I get_ , Eddie thought not without a sense of bitterness. “Mom, I really have to go now.”

His mother sighed heavily, sensing defeat. “Fine, but you better finish all of the lunch I packed for you,” she warned, looking displeased. “Oh, and Eddie-bear!” she called urgently as Eddie turned to leave. “Don’t forget about the dinner at Margaret’s tonight, you have to be home by 5 to change and get ready!”

Eddie’s hand froze on the doorknob. _Oh shit._ He had completely forgotten about that stupid dinner his mother had arranged weeks ago without even asking him if he wanted to go. And yes, she expected him to go. Margaret Spencer and her brood were of ‘a decent family’, unlike _other people they knew,_ and Eddie absolutely had to go. He was quite sure that lying was not getting him out of that one, unless he could fake being mortally contagious. 

Eddie’s thoughts raced. If he agreed to go to this dinner, he wouldn’t be able to meet up with the other Losers after school. It was Friday. The one day they all agreed to spend together, no matter what else was going on in their lives. The one day they had all to themselves to do whatever the hell they wanted until they couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore. His favourite day of the whole miserable week. 

Eddie pinched his nose and shut his eyes, sensing the beginning of an awful migraine. He didn’t want to be the one to miss out. He didn’t want to go to his mother’s stupid dinner instead of spending time with his friends. 

“I told you I don’t really want to go to that.”

He expected the scandalous tone that crept into his mother’s tone as she raised her voice. “What do you mean you don’t want to go? I already promised them that you would be coming! Margaret’s daughter has been looking forward to seeing you for the past two weeks!”

Eddie very much doubted that. “Mom, Alison sees me at school every day. Just because we don’t have any classes together doesn’t mean she doesn’t see me! Why would she even care if I was there tonight? She barely ever speaks to me in school except for when she wants to make some snarky comment about Bev—you know what, never mind. I just don’t want to go.”

His mother shook her head. “That’s why it’s a good idea for you to go and have dinner with them, so you can get to know each other better. You need some friends from decent families in this town.”

Eddie didn’t want to take the bait, but the need to lash out was overwhelming. “I’m almost 18, mom!” he snapped despite himself. “I can make my own damn decisions regarding where I go and who I’m with!”

His mother’s face screwed up as though she was struggling with an offensive thought inside her head. She leaned back against the stair railing and covered her face with her hands. Eddie knew this tactic all too well; he also knew that he was powerless against it once it started. He had prayed it didn’t come to that, but his last words had been one step over the line. He should have known his mother was not ready to hear them. 

His face fell as he heard the first sob. His heart fell when he realized what it meant. He wasn’t going to see his friends that night. 

“I’ve always wanted only the best for you, Eddie,” she whimpered in-between sobs, reaching for a box of tissues. “I don’t understand why you won’t let me help you.”

Eddie sighed as the guilt washed in, erasing all traces of resistance. He hesitated with a heavy heart, glancing at her regretfully. “I’m sorry, ma, I didn’t mean it like… I’m sorry. Mom, don’t cry.” He approached her and put a hand over her shoulder, all the while dreading his next words. “I’ll go. Okay? I’ll go to the dinner.”

His mother dabbed at her puffy eyes with a tissue and smiled through her tears, covering his hand with her own and nodding at him as though she was grateful he had finally come to his senses. Her wedding ring still adorned her chubby finger, tight as it was on her now, but it served as a bitter reminder for Eddie that his mother was the only family he had left – and that family came first. He wasn’t ready to lose his mother. And while it made Eddie a little bitter to see how happy she was to get her way, even if it resulted in his misery, he knew she did it out of love for him. Love, yes, but love wasn’t always the right kind, he reminded himself. All he had to do was think of Beverly’s father. 

“It will be good for you, Eddie, you’ll see. Alison is a very nice girl and I am sure you can be the best of friends once you get to know each other.”

Eddie was quite certain that would never happen, but he wasn’t about to waste any more time arguing with his mother. A quick glance at the clock on the wall confirmed his worst fear – it was now after 8:30 and he was officially late for school. Giving his mother a quick kiss on the cheek, Eddie rushed out of the house.

He spotted Richie’s old truck right away. It was parked in its usual place four houses down behind a large evergreen bush, out of his mother’s range of sight if she were to look out the window. Despite the fact that the truck was well over 10 years old and a complete wreck, Richie couldn’t have been more proud of himself for getting it. He had worked two full-time summer jobs to scrounge up enough to buy himself a second hand car after he had finally passed his driving test. Eddie never said as much, but he admired Richie’s determination. Eddie hadn’t tried for a driver’s license himself despite his friends’ encouragement because the idea of driving a car made him anxious. Especially knowing there were drivers like Richie out there.

As he sprinted towards the parked truck, Eddie breathed in the crispy cool morning air, and felt a little bit better for it. The weather was unusually nice despite the time of the year. He could have left his jacket behind. The warmth of the spring was already creeping in, triggering the budding of leaves all around like a freshly blooming bouquet of flowers. Neighbours were popping out, some off to work, others to water their lawns or walk their dogs, all of them glad for the passing of the colder months. 

“Hey, sour face!” Richie exclaimed with a bright look on his face as he spotted Eddie approaching. 

Richie usually waited inside the car because Eddie was never late, but this time he was out leaning against the trunk with a cigarette in his mouth, his eyes searching Eddie’s face curiously. His dark curls that were now down to his shoulders were concealed by a blue hoodie that looked as though it had been slept in. His hands were stuck in his jean pockets – probably because they had gotten cold – and Richie’s jeans were frayed as usual. Overall, Richie had developed somewhat of a ‘bad boy’ look over the past two years, especially once he had switched from his coke bottle glasses to contacts after having them repeatedly smashed in fist fights. He was also the tallest of the group now, while Eddie remained to be the smallest. Unfortunately for him, it was a favourite topic of Richie’s to poke fun at.

Richie opened up his arms wide, grinning from ear to ear. “You look like you need a hug. Come ’ere and get a smoocharella!” 

“No thanks, I don’t know what you’ve put in your mouth this morning,” Eddie replied testily before his eyes slipped to Richie’s cigarette with a disapproving scowl. “Scratch that – I know exactly what you’ve put in it, so I might just vomit.” He flicked it out of his mouth before Richie could stop him and stumped it out. “Can we go? We’re late.” 

Richie snorted and pulled out another cigarette from his pack, tucking it behind his ear, presumably for when they got to school. “Certainly, but if you feel like vomiting, make sure you stick your head out of the window, cause I just cleaned out the inside.” Richie swung into the driver’s seat. “So how come you’re so late, Eds? Did you finally discover how to start your morning the fun way?”

“Can you fucking drive? We’re already really late,” Eddie snapped, shutting the door a little more forcefully than necessary. 

“Yeah, yeah, who cares,” Richie drawled as he started up the engine. “Nobody’s missing us, trust me. And I’m going to take this as evidence that you still have no idea how to make your mornings fun.”

Eddie snorted. “And I suppose you have butterflies flying out of your ass every morning. Shut up and drive, jackass.”

Richie switched gears and (quite intentionally) took off at a mad speed that made Eddie grab a hold of his seat in reflex. “Do you have to drive like a maniac all the time?!”

“You told me to step on it!”

“That means drive faster, not like a mad man, asshole!” 

Eddie looked out the window, feeling his mood souring even further as his stomach churned uncomfortable, reminding him that it was going to be hours before he got to have any food. This day was clearly going to be absolute shit from beginning to end. 

“Whoa, someone’s real grouchy today,” Richie commented, sounding almost amused. “Are you gonna tell me what happened or should I just assume your mom accidentally sat on your breakfast?”

“If you must know, I _didn’t_ have any breakfast this morning,” Eddie said, sounding as grouchy as Richie had accused him of being. “But that was because I skipped it ‘cause I was running late and I didn’t want to make you wait,” he lied in one breath, deciding to wait till lunch to tell everyone the sad news about that evening. He watched as a couple of kids rode by on their bikes as they waited for a red light to turn green. They both looked so happy. “So you should thank me for starving myself for your benefit.”

Eddie heard Richie snicker in amusement. “I’ll thank you alright, but only because you’re absolutely adorable in miniature.” 

Eddie gave Richie’s arm a playful swat, grumbling something about it being better than turning into a beanstalk. Richie grinned, feeling encouraged by the slight thaw. 

“So by the way… if jacking off is a sin, and all sinners go to Hell, does that mean there’s no sex in Heaven?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Is that what you think about in your spare time? And that doesn’t even make any sense. Jacking off isn’t sex.” He almost looked offended when Richie laughed in response. “What are you snorting at?! It really isn’t! It takes two to have sex.”

“Or three. Or four. Or—”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, Richie. Let’s just say it takes more than one person.”

“It doesn’t even have to be a person.”

“We are so not talking about that right now.”

Richie laughed again. “Touchy much today? Maybe jacking off is exactly what you need.”

“And you need to shut up on the regular, but you don’t, do you? You don’t know how.”

“I could say the same about you.”

Eddie managed to look appalled, although he knew damn well that Richie was actually right. Not altogether right, but right enough. Eddie had never… done that to himself. But it wasn’t because he didn’t know how. It was mostly due to the fact that every time he tried, images of his mother and the bearded church minister popped into his head, completely spoiling the mood. That was why Eddie didn’t even try anymore. Richie was right, after all. All sinners went to Hell, and Eddie didn’t want to be one of them.

Unsure of how to respond and sensing an embarrassing rush of blood to his face, Eddie popped open the glove compartment and started rummaging through the mess contained inside. “Can’t you keep some gum or candy in here once in a while? I’m fucking starving.”

“Why certainly, anything for my fair lady!” Richie exclaimed in a mock Shakespearean accent. “I shall endeavor to keep on hand anything my fair lady desires so that she may indulge in sweets anytime she gets the morning gloom ‘cause alas, she doesn’t have the balls to indulge in other things.” 

At Richie’s hysterical laugh, Eddie flipped him off. “Another word, and you’ll find your balls ironed into a pancake next time you dare set foot into my bedroom.”

Richie winced in a theatrical manner. “Ouch, sassy lassy, I know you’re hot for me, but you got’ta take it easy on the ol' family jewels!” he exclaimed in a well-done Scottish accent. “They’re worth their weight in gold, ya know!”

Eddie had to admit that as much as Richie’s voices were annoying, they had gotten quite good over the years. Of course, that didn’t mean he wanted to hear them any more often than once in a blue moon. “But seriously, keep some food in here or something. That’s what most decent people have in their glove department. All you’ve got is a bunch of junk.”

“Hey, I’m hurt, Eddie Spaghetti! That junk you’re referring to is all of my mix tapes. I’ll have you know I’m probably going to be spinning that shit for the prom dance this year, so I wouldn’t be calling it junk.”

Eddie blinked at him. “I thought it was going to be that awful DJ from last year again? I heard he really bombed, and not in a good way.”

“Yeah, he played like old country songs the whole time, or some bullshit like that. I guess someone in the office finally caught on that country music is a fucking drag and nobody wants to dance to that shit. If I get the job, I’mma make my school proud.”

Eddie felt a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. Richie wasn’t talking out of his ass, his taste in music was impeccable and his mix tapes always rocked. Eddie could admit as much. “You’ll be a definite improvement over that old geezer. Wasn’t he like the school’s caretaker until he retired five years back?”

“Yeah, I heard some shit like that, too. Cleaning toilets and spinning records, quite the broad job description,” Richie said, snickering. “Next they’ll have him giving speeches on teen pregnancies.”

Eddie grinned. “Might be easier to just hand out condoms on prom night.” 

“Wouldn’t say no to that,” Richie agreed readily as they pulled into the school’s parking lot that was now completely free of any students, seeing how first period had already started. Richie jumped out of his truck and stretched out his long limbs as though they had been driving for hours instead of exactly seven minutes. 

Eddie lingered on Richie’s last words for a moment longer than necessary before his attention was diverted by a familiar figure crouching under the oak tree in the school yard, tired blue eyes peering up at them from under a wave of red hair. “Hey, is that Bev over there?” he said with surprise, wondering why she wasn’t in class yet.

“Yeah, that’s Bev,” Richie confirmed, looking over at the lonely figure. “She’s waiting for me,” he added, answering Eddie’s question before he had a chance to ask it.

Eddie gave him a puzzled expression. “What for?”

“She wanted to have a drag with me before class,” Richie explained with a shrug as he slid the cigarette pack out of his pocket and gave it a neat flip in the air, waving at Bev with his other hand. 

It’s not that Eddie didn’t know it was happening. It had started off at the beginning of the school year when Bev had asked Richie for her first cigarette after a particularly shitty day at home and smoked the entire thing in one minute flat without even choking on it once. Afterwards, it started happening more often that she joined Richie in smoking his poison, at lunch and after school, and sometimes at their get-togethers when they weren’t at someone’s house. And as of late, smoking before school started, which more often than not landed them both in detention. Since they were the only two smokers in the group, they always separated from the others for their smoke breaks, which Stan and Mike had started dubbing ‘their secret love affair’, much to Bill and Ben’s chagrin. Eddie didn’t care either way. He knew Richie and Beverly were close friends, but he also knew there was nothing more than that between them. If there was, Richie would have told him about it.

Richie picked out the cigarette from behind his ear and placed it between his lips, letting it dangle unlit. “Come on, Eds, let’s get you inside. Looks like the sky is about to burst a pipe or somethin’.”

As if on cue, Eddie glanced up and realized Richie was right. The sky had gotten greyer, and the clouds were quickly gathering together into a large solid looking mass that threatened to spill rain at any minute. He let Richie sling a casual arm around his shoulders and draw him in slightly against Richie’s strong, warm body as they walked side by side, heading for where Bev was waiting for them. Eddie wasn’t in a hurry to separate himself from it. 

“You know, the two of you are going to get expelled if you keep on smoking behind the school building during class time,” Eddie said matter-of-factly as Beverly stood up to meet them. 

Her facial expression confirmed his guess about why she was sitting here instead of her classroom. Her skin was paler than usual and there were dark circles under her eyes that lacked their usual warmth. She had the haunted look of someone who had been through too much shit, and Eddie couldn’t blame her for her choices right now, even if they didn’t exactly work in her favor. Sometimes you just needed a break from life.

“I couldn’t care less right now, Eddie,” she said in a subdued tone, putting an effort into stretching her lips to smile at them in greeting. “I’m out of here as soon as I hit 18, anyway.”

“That’s the spirit, Bevvie!” Richie approved enthusiastically, offering her a cigarette from his pack, which she took with a quiet ‘thanks’. “The farther away from this place, the better. I salute you for your courage.” 

Beverly nodded, looking like she was fully appreciating that thought. “Yeah. I’m looking forward to it. How come you guys are later than usual? Did you get into an accident or something?”

“Ask Eddie, it’s his fault for once,” Richie replied, poking his finger at Eddie’s cheek, who kicked his arm off in response. “Or don’t, he might just bite your head off. He wouldn’t tell me shit, he’s like a spiky urchin today. So I’m all yours, Bevvie! Ya ready to pour it all out? ‘Cause I’m all ears for you, baby.”

Eddie scoffed. “Great, now you’re ready to shut up? I’ve been practically begging you to for the past ten minutes.”

“Maybe you should have begged nicer,” Richie grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. “You know I’ll do anything if you only say ‘please’, Edward.”

Eddie gave him the finger before turning around and heading into the school building. “See you later, losers.”

“Don’t forget we’re sharing lunch again today, Spagheddie!”

Eddie’s stomach growled responsively at the mention of lunch, which was still a good three hours away, to his great misfortune. Plus, he was certain he was getting detention this time, which really pissed him off. If he did, it would mean breaking his perfectly kept record of zero detentions in nearly four years of school. Plus he couldn’t blame it on Richie, which somehow made it even worse. Richie, who held the record high in detentions himself and got a kick out of trying to break Eddie’s ‘detention virginity’, as he called it.

Pausing just before the school entrance, Eddie glanced back to where Richie and Beverly sat together, their heads intimately close as they smoked and talked with grey tendrils of smoke curling around them. They almost looked good that way, if it wasn’t for the dumpsters scattered messily around them. 

Getting that heavy feeling blooming in his chest for the second time that morning, Eddie turned away from the sight and entered the building.

~*~

Eddie didn’t end up sharing too many classes with any of the other Losers that term, which he wasn’t the happiest about. He shared Social Studies and Literature with Bill, Math with Beverly (which she often skipped), and no classes at all with Richie. Ben was the luckiest, as he shared at least one class with each one of them, and Stan mostly shared classes with Bill. Mike still attended another school and was the only one missing from their group at lunch. He was also very busy with learning his family’s farming business, so he wasn’t always available to meet up with the rest of them on their usual Friday evenings. 

The rest of the week mostly consisted of school, homework, jobs (in Richie’s and Beverly’s cases) and family commitments, and left little room for any other get-togethers. Long gone were the days when they could shirk responsibilities and run off into the Barrens for a day of fun in the sun. It made Eddie feel melancholy at times when he thought about it.

At lunch time, Eddie shared the news that he was going to be missing from their evening gathering, which drew an overwhelming reaction of disappointment from the group. Eddie knew they had been planning to have a bonfire by the lake that day, but since the weather was not cooperating anyway (the rain had started pouring shortly after second period and was still pouring through lunch), and since Eddie wasn’t going to be there, they had all agreed to stay in and watch movies at Bill’s house instead. Eddie didn’t miss the fact that Richie seemed unusually quiet through the rest of the lunch hour and the ride home. 

When Eddie arrived home after school, his mother had already laid out his best church clothes and packed up her favorite potato salad that she had prepared to bring with her to the dinner party. It took him a whole hour to get changed and cleaned up while he racked his brain to try and make up some last-minute excuse as to why he couldn’t go. In the end, he had to go with her anyway, because he had promised it and because there was really no good excuse for him to pull out of his hat. So he went, even if it made him miserable.

The dinner ended up being a disaster, just as he had foreseen it. After they had finished eating (and the food hadn’t been half bad, he had to admit), his mother and her church friend Margaret retired to the dining room to gossip about neighbors over tea and pie, while Eddie was left alone with Alison with some old boring movie playing on TV. Alison didn’t pay much attention to him throughout the evening and they mostly ended up sitting in awkward silence while Eddie made himself feel like shit by thinking of how much fun his friends were probably having without him. He tried to guess what movies they were be watching; he was willing to bet it was something better than whatever the fuck was playing on the Spencers’ expensive TV. Plus he was stuck with the worst company in the world, at that. It had ended up being the longest evening of his life. 

It was well after 10 pm when their mothers had finally decided to call it a night. By the time they were home, Eddie actually felt physically ill from the experience he had had to endure – and took himself straight to bed, hoping to sleep away the emptiness he felt inside. He wondered if the other Losers had already finished with their ‘movie night’ and dispersed to their own homes, or if they were still up, telling jokes, playing cards and eating late-night pizza. The thought of it made his eyes sting, and it was only his pride that didn’t let the tears spill despite how much it hurt to hold them back. 

It was then that Eddie promised himself that this was never happening again. Even if his mother cried and pleaded with him, even if she screamed at him until her lungs gave out. He was never skipping out on his time with his friends again. Once he cemented that thought as a solemn promise to himself, Eddie was finally able to close his eyes and coach himself into letting it go, into relaxing and letting sleep take him away. A new day always brought a fresh beginning, and everything would feel a little less painful in the morning.

Just as he started falling asleep, he heard something go ‘bump’ against his window, jostling him back into full wakefulness. He sat up and looked at his window in alarm, squinting at it in the dark to try and figure out where the sound came from. The moon was low in the sky, its faint light creeping in through the sheer drapes over his window, providing enough luminescence for Eddie to discover the source of the second ‘bump’ that occurred moments later. 

With a sharp intake of breath as realization hit, Eddie hopped out of bed and made sure his bedroom door was shut tightly before rushing to pop the window open. He winced as a third rock made its way through the (now) open window and bounced off his cheek, making him groan as he rubbed the injured spot with his fingers.

“Shit, Richie, couldn’t you find some smaller rocks to throw? You nearly took my eye out!” he hissed as quietly yet clearly as he could. He heard a familiar snicker from below.

Eddie couldn’t see Richie in the darkness, but he knew it was him. There was only one person in the world who could be throwing rocks at his window at this ungodly hour. That’s what Richie usually did when he showed up to hang out with Eddie and sometimes sleep over, depending on what was going on with his parents. Eddie never thought of asking why Richie didn’t sleep over with any of the other Losers. And it had never even occurred to him to suggest it. 

“Sorry, Eddie!” rose a quiet response. “Glad you’re still up, anyway. Can I come up?”

“Yeah, hurry before you wake up my mom, she didn’t take her sleeping pill today.”

It took less than a minute for Richie to climb up to his window and slide over the sill into the bedroom, practiced as he was. As soon as he came face to face with Eddie, his face brightened considerably.

“Hey, Mr. Grinch, again with the sour face?” he said in a voice resembling the familiar cartoon, which he knew would annoy Eddie. “What is it this time? Shoes are too tight?” he continued with a wicked grin, slipping off his jacket and tossing it carelessly onto the floor. “God, I love your place, always so tidy!” 

Eddie tsked and picked up Richie’s crumpled jacket, folding it neatly over a chair. “Is that why you always feel the need to mess it up?”

Richie threw himself onto Eddie’s bed like he owned it and splayed out his arms in the most relaxed pose imaginable, closing his eyes. “I’m soooo ready to sleep, Eddie Spaghetti!”

Eddie turned on his bed lamp and felt quite tempted to kick Richie off his bed just to make him yelp. “Then get off my bed and sleep on the floor, you filthy animal. Do you even know that clothes are meant to be washed every few wears?” 

“But then I wouldn’t smell like a surprise every day!”

Eddie shook his head. “Take your damn hoodie off, dumbass. I’ll throw it in our next wash when my mom isn’t looking, and then you can surprise everyone by not smelling like you’ve been sleeping in it for the past week.” 

“Aww, Eds, you are so sweet, you’re making my teeth rot inside out.” 

Eddie snickered. “It’s a good thing your father is a dentist, then.”

Making a face, Richie sat up and pulled off his sweater, tossing it at Eddie’s face. “If you want, I’ll give you my socks, too. You can stuff those in your mouth instead of the washing machine.”

Eddie flipped him off and stuffed his hoodie to the very bottom of his laundry basket. “I’ll bring it to school on Monday, should be done by then.” 

At Richie’s gesture to join him on the bed, Eddie sat at the foot of his bed, looking at him as though he still couldn’t believe he was there. “So what brought you here, Richie? Did everyone go home already?”

“Yeah, I guess it turned out kinda boring without you, so we called it a night early. I went home first but my pa wasn’t in his best mood, so I decided to pay my favourite friend a visit.” He smirked at him in a way he knew made him look good. “And I was really hoping to stay here for the night.”

Eddie couldn’t help the slight pang of disappointment that Richie was here only because his father had been drinking again. Why was that even a problem, though? That was the usual reason Richie crashed over at his place. Plus, Eddie’s house was the closest. Instead of using words to respond to Richie’s request, Eddie stood and went to rummage through his closet, looking for the sleeping bag that Richie usually laid out on the floor for himself.

Richie must have sensed the change in his mood, because he came up from behind him and stuck his face into the closet, schooling his features into disappointment. “Floor again? I thought I’d get to sleep in your bed this time.”

Eddie gave him a look. “There’s no fucking way I’m sleeping on the floor, I don’t want to get sick.” He shoved at his chest, pushing him out. “And have the decency to give a man some fucking privacy, get your ugly mug out of my closet.”

Richie’s eyes lit up with interest. “You mean you keep your porn magazines in here? Hey, I could use some stress relief right now.”

Eddie rolled his eyes and shoved him harder, which Richie played up by falling to the floor on his ass with a dramatic yelp. “You’re so fucking abusive, Eds!” he exclaimed accusingly while rubbing at his butt in an exaggerated manner. “Seriously, what’s chapping your ass? Did you get detention for being late today or something?” 

“It will pain you to find out I did not. It’s called _making teachers like you_. You should try it some time.”

“Funny, I always thought it was called _kissing ass._ ”

Richie yelped again as Eddie fanned out the sleeping bag and threw it over his head, tackling him to the ground. “You’re such a fucking retard, you know that? You really need to learn how to keep your mouth shut.”

Being the taller and stronger of the two, Richie quickly found a way to extricate himself from the confines of the sleeping bag and flipped them over, breaking Eddie’s weak hold on him without much trouble at all. He pushed his arm horizontally across Eddie’s chest to keep him flat against the floor and leaned in close. “Maybe I don’t want to. Maybe I know you like it when I don’t.”

Finding himself unexpectedly trapped in a compromising position, Eddie opened his mouth to retort but found he had nothing. He felt a warm breath of minty fresh air ghosting against his face, and realized Richie must have brushed his teeth before coming. Eddie swallowed and turned his face to the side, trying to wriggle his way out of Richie’s hold. “Get off, you’re heavy.”

“You suck,” Richie said with a pout, but released him after a few moments and sat on the floor, crossing his legs and leaning back onto his arms. He tilted his head and looked at Eddie questioningly. “So how was it? Did Alison show you a good time?”

Getting up, Eddie brushed himself off and slid into his bed, running his hand through his hair. “Boring. I don’t know. I don’t really want to talk about it, I want to forget it ever happened. And I really think we need to go to sleep now, it’s almost midnight.”

Richie hummed and reached over to the bookshelf by the bed, grabbing a comic book and leafing through it. “Is this new?”

Eddie sighed in exasperation, but answered anyway. “Yeah, I got it yesterday. It’s pretty good, you can borrow it if you like.”

“I’ll just read it now.”

“Didn’t you say you were ‘soooo ready to sleep’?”

“Ehhh, maybe I feel like staying up for a bit now that I’m here. I got a head rush climbing up your wall. You wanna read it together? I can come up there with you.”

Eddie scrubbed at his eyes. He had woken up really early that morning thanks to his horrible dream and then had an emotionally draining day, so he felt pretty exhausted. On the other hand, he really wanted to spend time with Richie, since he didn’t get to spend time with all of his friends.

He sighed and scooted over to the wall, making room for Richie. “Yeah, alright, but don’t fall asleep on my bed, or you’re getting kicked off.”

They had managed to stay up another hour reading through the comic and exchanging stupid comments about its goofy characters that made them both snort hysterically in muffled laughter. It almost patched everything up for Eddie, like none of the bad things that day ever happened. He fell asleep almost too easily after, his head settling onto Richie’s shoulder, the sensation of soft curls tickling his cheek before sleep took him. 

He didn’t dream that night.

When he woke up to the sun peaking softly through the window, he spotted Richie buried in his sleeping bag on the floor with his hand resting on top of his Walkman, his hair in a tangled mess and his headphones askew. He had probably listened to music till he fell asleep. Eddie didn’t want to wake him up just yet, so he let him sleep for a few more minutes, watching the blanket rising steadily with the rhythm of his breathing. He hadn’t expected Richie to come that night, but it had felt so good to spend time with him… Eddie felt so happy that he did. 

Finally, Eddie stretched and threw his pillow at Richie’s head to wake him up. His mother would be up soon and if she found Richie in his room, there would be a scandal of epic proportions to start off their weekend with.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. The next one is almost complete! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed reading!


End file.
